Friday, July 31, 2015

The issue was failing to report gifts, such as a fishing trip and an asphalt driveway on his property, hiding a garnishment order, receiving snow plowing and garbage pick-up funded by the city. We'll see if they push for a recall

The former treasurer of the Canyon Lake Property Owners Board of Directors has handed in signatures from 286 members calling for the recall of PResident David Eilers, Treasurer Bruce Yarbough and Secretary Doug Gordon. There's a whole list of reasons, though of note is the disenfranchisement of 1000 property owners.

New petitions were submitted in the recall of two Bertrand Township members Supervisor Steve Hicks and Treasurer David Kuhn. This is the third attempt -- previous ones were rejected on clarity grounds. The issue seems to be a vote to reappoint Rhonda Hicks to the planning commission and the fact that they accept annual salaries.

The Camp Verde Town Attorney has petitioned to cancel the November 3 recall against Vice Mayor Bruce George. The issue seems to be whether the petitioners checked the box indicating whether they are paid to collect the signatures or were volunteers. We've seen this issue before, so no surprise.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Tons of coverage out there on the recall of the conservative members of the Colorado Jeffco School Board district, Ken Witt, Julie Williams and John Newkirk, that have pushed to rewrite a US history course. The three were also accused of being dismissive of students and parents and overpaying the newly hired superintendent. The board members claim that the recall is over teacher salaries

Petitioners needed about 15,000 valids, they turned in about 36,000 to 37,000 for each member in 17 days. That is a lot over, and while Colorado has a history of tossing out signatures, that looks to be a safe amount.

Tucson Unified School District members Adelita Grijalva, Cam Juarez and Kristel Foster are facing petitions, led by a man who worked for the district for 20 years and was recently fired. He claims he was fired because (again, he claims) his wife was having affairs with parents and threatening calls were made to the district office. The district blamed him for the calls.

Three challengers, including sitting trustee Matt Kovalcik and former deputy clerk Mary Agnes, have entered the recall race against Cottrellville Township Supervisor Kelly Fiscelli, which was launched over her Super-DUI guilty plea.

California State Senator Richard Pan, a pediatrician who authored the bill removing personal belief exemptions from the reasons to not vaccinate school children is facing a petitions. Petitioners would need 35,926 signatures by December 31.

The recall attempt against Mayor Ed Mahaney has three weeks to turn in the 481 signatures -- it sounds like they are not that close. They are reporting that they will not have 500. The issue was the demotion of the police chief after an investigation into compensatory time.

Spokane Mayor David Condon is facing a recall petition over one man's claim that a city employee pushed him and an officer threatened him, as well as the against the city's use of Red Light Camera districts. Since the petition needs to pass judicial muster (Washington is a malefeasance standard state), this one seems like quite the longshot. Condon is facing a reelection race in November, so it's not clear what can even happen with this.

Gary Sherwood does not seem flush with cash, though the Protect Glendale Taxpayers spent $10,000 on book keeping and gave $7,500 to the committee seeking Sherwood's recall. The Arizona Free Enterprise Club gave $21,000 to his recall, though it looks like they are in trouble for some tardy reporting and possible dark money donations.

The fight over the Nashville Director of Schools has led to a push for a recall against at least some board members over the perceived failure to take input from the community (though the board has not hired anyone yet). Here's an earlier story where members were calling for fellow member Susan Curlee's resignation.

The recall of North Las Vegas Municipal Judge Catherine Ramsey has been stayed, with the Supreme Court waiting till October 5 to hear oral arguments in the case. To me, her argument that the state law doesn't allow recall of judges seem extremely weak (which was rejected by a district judge), but I don't sit on the court, so what do I know.

Eventually, I'll have a big post on recall of judges, but in the meantime you can look at my op-ed in the Las Vegas Review Journal on the subject -- this could be the first recall of a judge anywhere in the country in over 30 years.

Friday, July 24, 2015

Councilman Chris Jacobson claims that former Councilman Fred Kucker is behind the recall charges, blaming Jacobson's pointing the finger at communication Kucker had with a developer in his last meeting in October. Here's a story about how the release of a video helped fuel the case.

The recall against Oro Valley Mayor Satish Hiremath has gotten to the November 3 ballot, with 3242 of the the 3392 signatures being validated. Petitioners needed 2765. The petitions against three councilmembers are still out there. The recall is over the sale of a country club.

A Sanger Grand Jury issued a detailed report on the city's problems, but recommended against promoting recalls for violation of what seems to be Open Meeting Acts, as well as other charges over their vote to fire the City Manager (they voted 4-0 to keep him, but he quit a few months later). Mayor Joshua Mitchell also quit over alleged conflict of interest charges.

Democratic Municipal Chairman Michael Pollotta has been threatening Mayor James Rotundo with a recall over the mayor's family holding numerous public sector jobs (the mayor's son applied for, and did not get, a vice principal position).

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Snowmass Village councilman Chris Jacobson is facing petitions after being arrested for DUI and for damaging the county jail by ripping off sections of the rubberized wall. Petitioners would need 242 signatures.

Petitions are being submitted against Betrand Township Supervisor Steve Hicks and Treasurer David Kuhn, which is just after Clerk Jane Lano was kicked out of office. The issue was the purchase of a new firetruck and their office hours.

The effort to recall Board President Phil Rodriguez and Judy McGooden ended, with Rodriguez's retirement from the board. The issue was their support for the superintendent, who announced his resignation at the end of 2016.

The recall was voted on in June, and won 539-111. However, the they needed 1261 voters to cast ballots (30% of the last gubernatorial election. A failure to renew a superintendent's contract pushed the idea forward.

The recall efforts against Howell School Board Members Mike Yenshaw, Deborah McCormick, Stacy Pasini and Mike Moloney appear to have failed (Pasini didn't even get past the clarity stage). Petitioners needed 4700 signatures, and it was over the decision to fire the superintendent over travel reimbursements.

Richard
Lee supporters spent nearly $12,000 to defend him from a recall
campaign attempting to remove him as MLA in Burnaby North.
The money was part of a $26,060 contribution from the B.C. Liberals,
via the local constituency association, according to expense reports
from Elections B.C. released Wednesday.
“We made a decision we needed to support Richard, and I feel we did a
very good job,” said Garth Evans, a former city councillor and now
president of the Liberals’ Burnaby North riding association.
The money covered expenses for a committee of Lee’s supporters to run a
parallel campaign defending him. The committee defending Lee only spent
$11,774, mostly on office rent and “professional services,” which
included hiring a campaign manager. The remaining funds went back to the
constituency association, Evans said.
The recall campaign spent far less ­– $1,859 – mostly on promotional
materials. The recallers received $1,845 in donations, just $14 less
than what they spent. Most of their money ($945) came from individual
donors, but $900 was an in-kind contribution for pre-campaign printing
services from the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers Association,
according to Letourneau.
“We had slightly less deep pockets,” said Loren Letourneau, the
official proponent for the recall petition. “For us, the financials goes
to show it really was a grassroots movement on our part. We were doing
it by walking door to door, by showing up, employing volunteers rather
than employees. There were no professional canvassers on our side. It
was people upset with the status quo. .. It was a really diverse
group.”
The recall campaign fell short of the 16,494 signatures required (over a
60-day period) to trigger a by-election. Lee is Burnaby’s only Liberal
politician; all other posts are held by New Democrats. The recall side
did not disclose how many signatures they actually collected.UPDATE: Don Main of Elections B.C. said his office
received all of the copies of the recall petition after the deadline,
and his office won't be verifying or counting any of the signatures, so
there's no information available on the total number of signatures.
"They didn't submit the petition, so it automatically fails. That's all we report and record," he said.
- See more at: http://www.burnabynow.com/news/richard-lee-supporters-outspent-recall-campaign-1.2001461#sthash.2uTjfgXe.dpuf

"I don't think he should be doing this at all, not until everything is
litigated in court," Gassoway said. "If he wants to reach out to these
people to get their support after the lawsuit is settled, that's fine.
For him to go to people's houses…I think he's going to try to (convince)
people to change their mind and say, 'We were coerced (into signing the
petition.)'"

Oro Valley Mayor Satish Hiremath is joining council members Lou Waters, Joe Hornat and Mary Snider in facing a November recall vote over the town's purchase of a country club. Petitioners handed in 2765 valid signatures and needed 2193.

A recall against Russett Community Association President Colin Sandy and VP Tim Reyburn has led to a debate over a June recall that the two officials say was invalid. The association (which represents 13000 residents) has spent $34,000 in legal fees on the fight.

The recall of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson seems to have died, though petitioners are claiming that they will start again in September. Petitioners needed about 12,000 signatures in 30 days. Petitioners handed in 12887 signatures in June, but almost all of them (98%) were tossed out. They then had 20 days to cure, but failed to take advantage.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Salinas Councilman Jose Castaneda is facing his fourth recall attempt in two years, organized again by Juan Sandoval. Castaneda was involved in a recent fist fight, was cited for driving with a suspended license and lack of insurance and is the target of a state Fair Political Practices Commission investigation. He is the subject of a grand jury investigation and a formal censure by the council. Petitioner will need 1800 signatures.

Montclair's Mayor Paul Eaton and councilmembers Bill Ruh and Trisha Martinez are facing petitions over claims that they overpaying the City Manager (which they dispute, claiming the state Comptroller has inaccurate info on its website) and neglecting the city parks and police force. The petitions are being brought by Sean Brunske, who just lost a race for the city council in the last election. The petitions need 2561 signatures in 120 days (20% of registereds).

Caldwell School Board Trustee Leif Skyving and Amy Rojas are facing recalls after the Superintendent and assistant Superintendent were relieved of duties. Both have claimed that they cannot speak on the issue. Interesting result on how many signatures are needed Rojas' recall will need 93, which is 50 percent of the voter turnout in the 2013 election. Skyving ran unopposed, so they need 348 signatures.

The recall attempt against two Glendale councilmembers, Bart Turner and Lauren Tolmachoff, has been expanded, with petitions now taken out against Vice Mayor Ian Hugh. Petitioners need 1804 signatures. The petitioner, Larry Feiner, is upset about the council members opposition to the city's agreement with the NHL and the Phoenix Coyotes.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

The recall effort against Manteca School Board members Sam Fant and Ashley Drain may be going to court, in a fight over "at large and "at district." The Registar ruled that the election will be district wide rather than in a trustee area if the recall gets on the ballot -- petitioners are claiming over 8000 signatures against Drain currently. Fant is a late addition to this fight -- a previous board member, Alexander Bronson, was in the crosshairs but he resigned.

Benton Harbor, which had a disastrous experience with the recall last year, now has petitioners looking to oust Clerk Carolyn Phillips and Treasurer Debbie Boothby. Petitioners claim they have more than the 781 signatures needed (due by July 18). The complaint is over the appointment of new Supervisor Kevin White, which was claimed to be behind closed doors.

Superior Court Judge Christine Farrington has greenlit the recall petitions against Mayor Tony Vauss, after the municipal clerk reject the recall on May 26 because it was "not based on facts." The big issue is a lawsuit against the mayor that he forced an employee to have sex in the office.

The Judge ruled that the Clerk did not have the right to reject the certification. There is talk of an appeal, though that seems to be more of delaying tactic/forcing proponents to waste money,

Thursday, July 9, 2015

The effort against House Majority Leader Val Hoyle over her support for background checks on private gun transfers was dropped, with the petitioner local gun shop owner Jason Thiesfeld claiming that he is abandoning the effort now that Hoyle is stepping down as leader (possibly to run for Secretary of State) He claims that he has the 3630 signatures needed, though without turning them in, there's usually good reason to doubt this.

There has been complaints against the recall effort claiming that since the employees at the gun stores were collecting signatures, they needed to register as paid petitioners.

There are still three recall efforts on going. No word on their possibility for success.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Michigan just adopted some technical election law changes, basically streamlining and dumping some days from the electoral calendar.

Since Michigan law holds that recalls must take place on a regularly scheduled Primary or Election Day, this has an effect on recalls. They will take place ion May or August regular election dates or (presumably) in November.

Three Rivers Board of Education President Mike Bosma, Waneta Truckey and Carl Barth have filed an appeal to the recall petition on clarity/factual grounds. The Judge has 40 days to rule. IF it goes forward, petitioners need 1165 signatures.

Caldwell School Board Trustees Leif Skyving and Amy Rojas are facing recalls over the removal of the acting superintendent and assistant superintendent. The vice chair of the committee that hired the superintendent is one of the leaders of the recall effort.

Holland Board of Health newest member Dana Manning is facing an August 10 recall launched by its longest serving member Dave Kowalkski. Manning is suing, claiming libel and defamation. Not clear what the issues. Another member targeted with a recall, Ken Ferrence, resigned.

The recall attempt against Port of Vancouver Commissioner Brian Wolfe has been knocked out by a Clark County Superior Court Judge. Washington is a judicial recall/malfeasance standard state, where a cause needs to be shown for the recall to get on the ballot. The alleged cause was a violation of the open meeting law (a discussion in a closed-door executive session about a lease for a rail to marine oil transfer terminal). The judge ruled that Wolfe did not knowingly and intentionally violate the law.

There is still a petition against Commissioner Jerry Oliver to be dealt with.

Sarasota City Commissioner Shelli Eddie admitted that she misled Equality Florida when she filled out her survey and she should not have accepted their endorsement. Now, there's calls for a resignation or recall.

Looks like the attempt to recall state Superintendent of Schools Diane Douglas will not begin until the 6 month waiting period starts. There had been talk of jumping the gun, but it sounds like cooler heads prevailed. Petitioners would need more than 367,000 valid signatures in 120 days.

Monday, July 6, 2015

I wrote this article in The Guardian on direct democracy and gun control. The original piece used the confederate flag debate as a jumping off point for why gun control has not had anything like the same result (that part was cut by the editors to make it tighter -- not a surprise). In the article, I look at how grassroots gun rights groups have successfully used direct democracy to advance their cause and show their strength, and how this may be one of the few avenues left for gun control groups to try and reclaim lost ground.

Obviously, this has been a topic of great debate on this blog and elsewhere. Another part that didn't make the final product was a brief discussion of the 1994 California gun control recall against State Senate President David Roberti, which I go into much greater depth in the link. Here's a post on the aftermath of the Colorado recalls, which may also be worth checking out.

One of the big points that should be made on the topic and is frequently lost in the noise as established groups trying to grab credit or place blame on the deeper pockets and better known names is that a number of these recalls were truly started by the grassroots, and in the case of Colorado, in opposition to the position of the established gun rights groups.

Willmar Councilman Ron Christianson is facing recall threats after the March removal of the city administrator and her expensive separation agreement, Petitioners need about 750 signatures and the approval of a judge to get this recall on the ballot -- and Minnesota has not been favorably disposed.

Online petitions are circulating against Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner (R), though these petitions have no legal value. The petitions have over 4000 signatures, and they would need 600,000 actually valid ones (plus survive Illinois' tough recall laws).

Centinela Valley School Board President Hugo Rojas may be facing the voters soon, as petitioners handed in over 10,000 signatures. They need 8,874. The recall attempts against two other board members, Maritza Molina and Rocio Pizano failed to get the hancocks. The recall was based on the contract handed to former Superintendent Jose Fernandez, who got $700,000 in 2013.

Palisades Park Mayor James Rotundo is facing claims of a recall, though it is currently unknown if this is more than anonymous sources. The Korea Daily claims that Democratic Party Chairman Michael Pollotta is key player.

Here's a piece on Glendale's last recall, back in 1993 against Councilmember Jim McAllister. Allister defeated the recall challenger Chris Pardi 818-668. The claim was the McAllister was out of touch. The district was Sahuaro, which is the same one that Gary Sherwood represents. He's facing a November 3 vote.

The recall against Town Administrator Paulette Hamilton over her support for a new charter school and tax assessor issues appears to have failed. Petitioners needed 2990 signatures, and claim to have gotten 2000. Presumably, they won't be turning them unless they had a last minute boost.

The recall against Mahwah Mayor Bill Laforet gains some traction with a $40 million lawsuit filed by the Public Works Director (actually, just keeping the right to sue), who was fired and then rehired over porn on the public works computers. Petitioners need 4,200 signatures.

A Clark County Judge approved the recall against North Las Vegas Judge Catherine Ramsey, though Ramsey's attorney is looking to appeal to the Supreme Court. Ramsey was fighting over the technicalities of the approved signatures -- some were alleged to be crossed-off and deemed valid, others didn't match the books, and some pages didn't have the notary stamp. The county only randomly sampled 500 signatures (as allowed by law), and Ramsey is claiming that the random sampling didn't meet the rules.

Random sampling is a complicated question, one we haven't dealt with much in recent years. I'll have to look into it further for more thoughts.

Three conservative members of the Jefferson County School Board President Ken Witt, VP Julie Williams and Secretary John Newkirk are facing recall threats over the hiring of the current Superintendent (at a higher salary then the predecessor) and the traditional open meeting law violation. This is part of the fight over the AP history curriculum from last year.

The recall against two Camp Verde council members, Robin Whatley and Jessie Jones, failed. Petitioners collected only 332 valids for Jones and 325 for Whatley. They are still trying to recall the new vice mayor Bruce George -- petitioners collected 335 valids for him. Petitioners needed 331 signatures.

Central Arizona College's Board of Governors, Gladys Christensen, Rita Nader, Rick Gibson and Jack Yarrington, are facing recall threats (and a lawsuit) for violating an open meeting law and Truth in Taxation notice over a 45% tax raise (to $2.76 per $100 of net assessed value). The room was allegedly too small to fit many members of the public. Petitioners claim they have between 30 and 45% of the signatures needed for the recall. They also want the College President and VP for Finance fired.